Add Dog to Family Photo

The family member who missed the picture

Holiday photos are planned around the whole family, and sometimes the dog is at the groomer on the day. In this example a family of four sits on the sofa in front of the tree in matching Christmas sweaters. The poses and smiles are the best of the set, and there is an empty spot on the rug where the dog would have been. The family took a separate photo of the dog by the same tree that week.

Who uses this

• Families sending Christmas cards or holiday prints
• Owners whose pet could not be there on the day
• Households combining the best portrait of people with the best one of the pet

How the edit is handled

A human editor takes the dog from the second picture and places it on the rug, sized against the rug pattern. Its coat is warmed to match the tree lights, which are warmer than in the dog's own photo, and a soft shadow on the rug keeps it from floating.

The four family members are kept as shot and checked at full size. Parts of the dog that were hidden in its own photo, such as the back legs, are an estimate, and the finished picture shows a combination of two photos, so it should not be presented as taken at one moment.

What to upload

Send the family photo and a clear photo of the pet, preferably in similar lighting and from the same height as the people. Tell us where the pet should sit and, if you like, how large it should look next to the family.

This example uses 2 photos you send: the family photo and Max's photo. Both are edited into the result, so it is 2 photos, 2 credits. A photo you send only to show the editor something is free.

Private: recreated on our own images, not customer photos

The before/after shown here is recreated on images created or licensed for this site — never a real customer's photo. Your upload is seen only by the editor working on it, and the edit comes with free revisions within 14 days of delivery if anything needs adjusting.